PC or 21st Century?

I have had a fascinating and enlightening dialog with an editor and Disability Activist that ended up with the publication of my (slightly) edited love poem for 2016 in a e-journal that puts me in the company of some very inventive writers.

I rarely submit my poems for publication. If a friend asks, I’ll send some recent work. And I usually have something to send, which is one of the gifts of not spending a lot of time on submissions. The most recent example, aside from a pile of unpublished American Sentences, is the series written after all of Joanne Kyger’s poems in her latest book On Time. I started writing poems taking off from poems in that book, a tone, a trope, content, format &c. and it was not until a few poems in that the title After On Time occurred to me, a title I love.

The word ‘Hineni’ means ‘Here I am’ in a spiritual sense, which is what Abraham says and means to God to indicate his readiness when he is called on in Genesis 22:1 (הִנֵּֽנִי‎ hinnênî).[2]

The next thing I did was send an email message to Jennifer asking about guidelines. She said no guidelines, just send poems. I sent one and here is a record of the correspondence, which I am publishing with Jennifer’s permission:

Thanks for your conditional acceptance of the poem. I understand your issue. The trouble is that the word morons is the tern Gene Wilder actually used in Blazing Saddles and it seems critical to quote him directly. Perhaps putting that word also in italics? What do you think?

reJennifer Bartlett12/26/16

to meHI Paul,

I read it carefully. Funny, I just watched Blazing Saddles yesterday. I see that you put the first part of the quote in italics but not the second part. If you want to leave off the word “moron’ and just say racists, that would be fine. Let me know. Do you need more of an explanation of my reasoning? Jennifer

Thanks for your care with this and no, an explanation is not necessary.

Were we to italicize the phrase “racist morons” and put a note at the end of the poem that it is a direct quote from Gene Wilder from Blazing Saddles, would that satisfy your concerns? I think the parallels between that time (fictionalized but with a lot of truth) and our own Trump era have a lot in common, but I bow to your decision to withhold publication if those suggested tweaks are found to be inadequate with no hard feelings on my end.

Wishing you good health and much happiness and prosperity in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Paul

reJennifer Bartlett12/28/16 (13 days ago)

to meHi Paul,

Thank you for the nice email, and thank you for being so kind.

I decided not to publish the poem. I am, by no means a politically correct person, but I think ableist language has been in circulation for too long and too vastly. It’s pretty constant. As an editor, I don’t mean to censor people, but i do want to put forth work that completely reconfigures American’s perceptions of, say, “morons.” And I guess that includes quotes from other people.

I think your attachment to that like is interesting. I am a very diligent poem who writes sparcely, so I understand what it is like to be attached to a word, but if an editor– or anyone pointed out that they word was a signifier of constant prejudice, I would change it. It is also interesting that you are comfortable using ‘moron” but not “n*&&#r” which was also used throughout the film, and a good metaphor for events today, but just goes to say people are educated not to be racist, but ableism is acceptable.I AM disappointed, it’s a great poem!

This has been an interesting process, this sending you a poem and the dialog that has ensued. And you are right. It’s telling that “n*&&#r” is a no-go and “moron” is ok. It’s a double standard, so may I change it to “fools” and not italicize it and see if it meets your standards?

Attached if so, grateful for the exchange and for the kind care you take with your work.

Sincerely,

Paul

P.S. Best to you in 2017.

Attachments area

reJennifer Bartlett12/28/16 (13 days ago)

to mePaul,

Hell yes! I’d love to take it. Thank you for the dialog. I’ll let you know when the magazine is up which will hopefully be the !st. Happy New Years. J

to reJenniferI looked up “morons” and it is linked to the eugenics movement. No thank you on THAT association. I’m not too old to learn and not too closed to admit when I missed it.

reJennifer Bartlett12/28/16 (13 days ago)

to meJust wow!

And it is the case where I did have the sense in the back of my mind that I was running into Political Correctness and Identity Poetics, two things I loathe. But this case was neither. Yes, Jennifer stands up for the rights of disabled people and her pointing out the word “moron” was offensive was news to me, but when I was open enough to consider it and found this out, on, again Wikipedia:

And follow the Eugenics link, which I did not have to do to reconsider my position and find:

During the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th century, eugenics was considered a method of preserving and improving the dominant groups in the population; it is now generally associated with racist and nativist elements as the movement was to some extent a reaction to a change in emigration from Europe rather than scientific genetics.[10]

Well, the word “fools” was used and the poem was published on Hinemi. Later, I would see a Cornel West editorial slamming the Obama administration and the state the world is in these days. The best quote from the piece was the last line of this telling paragraph:

The age of Barack Obama may have been our last chance to break from our neoliberal soulcraft. We are rooted in market-driven brands that shun integrity and profit-driven policies that trump public goods. Our “post-integrity” and “post-truth” world is suffocated by entertaining brands and money-making activities that have little or nothing to do with truth, integrity or the long-term survival of the planet. We are witnessing the postmodern version of the full-scale gangsterization of the world.

And while there were poems by people with disabilities, I did not see any that came across as preachy, or maudlin. I enjoyed the Steinian insistence of Lisa Forrest, the creative non-fiction of Kenny Fries, who is pictured in a photo that has become relatively famous (and echoes the above dialog) as well as Rae Rose’s stunning How to Earn a Fruit Basket. Oh, and there is my love poem to the year 2016 too. There are some poems that are not as strong as these few examples I’ve mentioned, but here is a case of an editor with an agenda and an open mind and, as it should be, the negative capability wins. Thank you Jennifer Marie Bartlett for your good work. Continued success.